Tag Archives: Pharmacology

A group of UK-based investigators from Davies Veterinary Group and the UCL School of Pharmacy, who recently engaged the veterinary world with an article defining the previously undocumented syndrome of feline audiogenic reflex seizures (FARS), have published follow-up findings about the treatment of the condition. Their paper, ‘Levetiracetam in the management of feline audiogenic reflex […]

When associate professor of pharmacy practice Tadd Hellwig of South Dakota State University and three pharmacy colleagues at the Sanford USD Medical Center noticed that some hospital patients given two common antibiotics developed kidney failure, they decided to take a closer look. What they discovered led to closer monitoring of patients receiving vancomycin and piperacillin-tazobactam […]

A team of scientists led by UC Davis found alarming rates of ear mites and ear canal tumors in the endangered foxes. Ear mite treatments they initiated have since dramatically reduced the problem, their studies show. Until recently, endangered foxes on California’s Catalina Island were suffering from one of the highest prevalences of tumors ever […]

Transgenic chickens are the latest animals engineered to produce ‘farmaceutical’ drugs. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a chicken that has been genetically engineered to produce a drug in its eggs. The drug, Kanuma (sebelipase alfa), is a recombinant human enzyme marketed by Alexion Pharmaceuticals. It replaces a faulty enzyme in people […]

After a six-year effort, biologists say they have for the first time managed to rid a wild toad species of a lethal fungal disease that threatens amphibians around the world. Midwife toads on the Spanish island of Mallorca are now free of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, says Jaime Bosch, an evolutionary biologist at Spain’s […]

New research published in The Lancet has shown that a drug, currently used in the treatment of Type II diabetes, can be effective in clearing fatty liver disease from some patients. The researchers from the University of Birmingham believe that the findings present the possibility of new therapies for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, […]

What doesn’t kill you could cure you. A growing interest in the therapeutic value of animal venom has led a pair of Columbia University data scientists to create the first catalog of known animal toxins and their physiological effects on humans. VenomKB, short for Venom Knowledge Base, summarizes the results of 5,117 studies in the […]

Salk Institute researchers have found that an experimental drug candidate aimed at combating Alzheimer’s disease has a host of unexpected anti-aging effects in animals. The Salk team expanded upon their previous development of a drug candidate, called J147, which takes a different tack by targeting Alzheimer’s major risk factor–old age. In the new work, the […]

Cryptosporidium parvum is a gastrointestinal parasite that can cause moderate to severe diarrhea in children and adults, and deadly opportunistic infection in AIDS patients. Because C. parvum is resistant to chlorine disinfectant treatment, it frequently causes water-borne outbreaks around the world. A study published on Nov. 12th in PLOS Pathogens provides a detailed analysis of […]

Two FDA-approved drugs reawaken dormant hair follicles. Inhibiting a family of enzymes inside hair follicles that are suspended in a resting state restores hair growth, a new study from researchers at Columbia University Medical Center has found. The research was published today in the online edition of Science Advances. In experiments with mouse and human […]

An intestinal patch device containing insulin that can be swallowed in the form of a capsule, in development by researchers at University of California Santa Barbara, has demonstrated efficacy of blood glucose management in diabetic rats. This work is being presented Oct. 27 at the 2015 American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Annual Meeting and […]

The amount of anesthetic required for general anesthesia during surgery varies widely from patient to patient and some may be able to receive a lower dose than typically administered, suggests a study being presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2015 annual meeting. “Providing general anesthesia is a delicate balance, ensuring the patient receives enough, but not more […]

The combination and sequence of antibiotics can promote or hinder the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It is estimated that each year in the United States 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to one or more types of antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people will die because of these infections. This problem […]

Chinese pharmacologist Youyou Tu developed key antimalarial drug artemisinin. Three scientists who developed therapies against parasitic infections have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.The winners are: William C. Campbell, a microbiologist at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey; Satoshi Ōmura, at Kitasato University in Japan; and Youyou Tu, a pharmacologist at the […]

More than 30% of cancer drugs are prescribed to treat conditions for which they have not been specifically approved. As the costs of genetic sequencing fall, oncologists are starting to prescribe expensive new drugs that target the genetic profiles of their patients’ tumours, even when those treatments have not been approved for the particular cancer […]

Antibiotic use is growing steadily worldwide, driven mainly by rising demand in low- and middle-income countries, according to a report released on 17 September. The research presents the clearest picture yet of how and where the drugs are used, and the prevalence of different types of antibiotic resistance. The Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and […]

Stanford researchers have ripped the guts out of a virus and totally redesigned its core to repurpose its infectious capabilities into a safe vehicle for delivering vaccines and therapies directly where they are needed. The study reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences breathes new life into the field of targeted […]

Eight of 14 patients in the first trial of the University of Pennsylvania’s personalized cellular therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) responded to the therapy, with some complete remissions continuing past four and a half years. These results, published in Science Translational Medicine, represent the most mature data from clinical trials of an approach known […]

Long-term, continuous use of low-dose aspirin and nonaspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk. The findings of a population-based, case-control study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Colorectal cancer is the third most common non-skin cancer in the world. Colorectal neoplasms have a long progression, making colorectal cancer an […]

Disease ecologist Rick Ostfeld says that Lyme disease should be tackled in part by targeting mice. On a balmy day in late June, Scott Williams waits for a white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) to fall asleep. Williams, a wildlife biologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, has just transferred the animal from a […]

Alternative medicines are widely thought to be at least harmless and very often helpful for a wide range of discomforts and illnesses. However, although they’re marketed as “natural,” they often contain active ingredients that can react chemically and biologically with other therapies. Researchers performed a comprehensive review of all of the medications taken by senior […]

The Leiden scientists discovered that in nature, too, antibiotics act as a weapon against rival bacteria. This seems logical, but remains controversial, because the concentrations in the soil appear to be far too low to act as a weapon against other bacteria. Rozen, Van Wezel and colleagues made the discovery by measuring the activity of […]

For thousands of years, people have used yeast to ferment wine, brew beer and leaven bread. Now researchers at Stanford have genetically engineered yeast to make painkilling medicines, a breakthrough that heralds a faster and potentially less expensive way to produce many different types of plant-based medicines Writing today in Science, the Stanford engineers describe […]

Miniature devices that mimic human organs could help to replace animals used in drug testing. Researchers who are developing miniature models of human organs on plastic chips have touted the nascent technology as a way to replace animal models. Although that goal is still far off, it is starting to come into focus as large […]

A UK government agency has used emergency rules to make controversial neonicotinoid insecticides available to some farmers, despite a European ban. These chemicals have been linked to declines in bee populations in numerous scientific studies, and the European Union (EU) imposed a temporary ban on much of their use in 2013. But the UK’s Department […]

After a string of failed trials, drugs that target protein build-up in the brain appear to slow disease progress. Alzheimer’s disease is marked by cognitive decline and the accumulation of proteins in the brain. After years of disappointment, clinical-trial results released on 22 July suggest that antibody treatments may produce small improvements in people with […]

A University of Wisconsin-Madison animal scientist has developed an antibiotic-free method to protect animals raised for food against common infections. The innovation comes as growing public concern about antibiotic resistance has induced McDonald’s, Tyson Foods and other industry giants to announce major cuts in antibiotic use in meat production. About 80 percent of antibiotics in […]

Infectious diseases kill more people worldwide than any other single cause, but treatment often fails because a small fraction of bacterial cells can transiently survive antibiotics and recolonize the body. A study reveals that these so-called persisters form in response to adverse conditions through the action of a molecule called Obg, which plays an important […]

Botulinum toxin could offer an effective new treatment for two forms of neuropathy — pain caused by different types of nerve injury, according to an experimental study published in Anesthesia & Analgesia. Treatment with botulinum toxin type B (BoNT-B) produces lasting reduction in abnormal pain responses caused by physical nerve injury or chemotherapy-related nerve damage […]

Research focuses on select tissues injured through disease, surgery and transplants, but early findings indicate potential for broad applications. Researchers have now announced steps toward turning this idea into reality. They have detailed how a new drug repaired damage to the colon, liver and bone marrow in animal models — even saving mice who would […]